Doubletake:
A RePhotographic Survey of the City of Madison: 1925-2000
The eight pairs of images in this exhibition seek to illustrate the effects of time and change on a specific urban environment. In the process, these pairs also refer to an intervening period of time when various kinds and degrees of growth, development or degradation have occurred. The changes illustrated will mean different things to different viewers. Such image pairs can only begin to convey some starting points for an examination of the nature of change within this city or any other city.
These eight sites are taken from a larger group of some 120 sites photographed from September 1997 to 2000. The pairs consist of
1) historic images from 8- by 10-inch negatives made by Angus McVicar, a Madison commercial photographer, between the years 1925 and 1957; and
2) contemporary “rephotographs” from 4- by 5-inch negatives of the same scene, taken from as close to the same “vantage point” and using close to the same focal-length lens as used in the historic view.
The intent from the outset was to apply a rigorous methodology to as many aspects of the project as possible. Utilizing one photographer’s archive provided a foundation of consistent film formats and lens choices. By virtue of McVicar’s log books — complete with subject description and date when photographed — contemporary counterparts could be taken as close to the McVicar date as possible or practical. Photographs made by McVicar under sunny conditions, for example, required more timely rephotographing of a site, usually to within a week or so of the original date so light and shadows more closely matched. In some cases rephotographs were made within minutes of the time of day and day of month as that of the historic image.
High degrees of visual correspondence were achieved through visual alignment of foreground, middle ground and rear ground features, and by comparing Polaroids taken at the scene with a contact 8- by 10-inch print of the original view. While exact rephotographs would be the ideal, obstacles both large and small often conspired to prevent such perfection. New construction appearing on the site of an original vantage point, or finding that a vantage point now falls in the middle of a recently widened land of traffic, are but two examples that necessitated a more flexible interpretation of some scenes.
Finally, a written record was kept throughout the project of exact time, exposure, film type and development, lens used, camera height, azimuth and field conditions; and a color transparency was taken of camera set-up and location, for purposes of future review, research, publication and additional rephotography by other photographers. Given that additional rephotographs may be taken over time, the visual document continues, with no truly fixed “final” image.
Zane Williams
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